Caledon gets good value from having OPP on patrol of the town
By Jon Yaneff

Caledon continues to be a safe community. That's the conclusion Inspector Andy Karski, detachment commander of Caledon OPP, made during his recent presentation to Town council.

He was contributing to discussions on the Town's 2008 budget.

In 2006 there were 228 violent crimes with a 90 per cent clearance rate, which he said is the highest in the Ontario.

"The provincial average for most violent crimes across the board went up 4.5 per cent with the clearance rate at 72 per cent, so our clearance rate is amazing in comparison," said Karski. "The bottom line is that Caledon continues to be a safe community and should a crime occur we solve it."

Karski said there were more than 1,400 reported crimes, everything from small to large, which is a 6.1 per cent decrease from 2005 and about a 40 per cent clearance rate, which is below the municipal and provincial standard of the OPP.

In terms of traffic enforcement in 2006, nearly 18,000 offence notices were issued, but as of the end of November 2007 they are just over 16,000, so they're on pace to match the 2006 numbers.

"In 2006 we removed 621 drinking drivers from our roadways, so far today we've removed 550 drinking drivers and that doesn't take into account our RIDE program in December," said Karski.

He said one significant issue was serious collisions, and he was most proud of these results.

He reported a small change in 2007, with nine fatal accidents resulting in 10 deaths, while two of the nine incidents were at the "hot spots," added Karski. "You take in account the collisions, we only had 14 and the hot spot program plays a large role in that."

According to the presentation, from 2005 to 2007, they were down to 14 serious collisions from 33 in 2005, nine fatal accidents and ten deaths, down from 16 and 18 in 2005 and two out of seven were hot spot fatalities compared to seven out of 16 in 2005.

"Visibility continues to be a hallmark word when it comes to Caledon because in 2006 we had 513 hours of foot patrol compared to 6,500 in 2007," he said. "There's a 13-fold increase foot patrol and a 10-fold increase of spot RIDE checks. In 2007 we stopped well over 50,000 for drinking and driving RIDE spot checks."

Karski said the Policing Advisory Council of Caledon (PACC) continues to assist the OPP and 2008 will see the establishment of a community safety liaison position that will allow them to co-ordinate PACC, road watch and other safety programs, including neighbourhood watch, as well as the programs they have in place in the community such as establishing drug free programs around high schools.

Karski also mentioned the creation of Caledon Criminal Apprehension Warrant Team (CAWT), which is a team of people that target repeat offenders to make sure they remove them from the community, particularly when they are breaching the conditions of the corresponding release. Also Caledon Repeat Offender Property program (CROP) was created and removes people's property, such as vehicles, from repeat offenders when it comes to impaired driving.

"We are one of the very first detachments to spearhead this," he said.

Karski said Caledon had its first homicide in four years in 2007, where at one point 17 officers were dedicated to the investigation and the charges were preferred within five weeks. Also in March 2007, the OPP cleared an allegation of a predator rapist where the victim was charged with the alleged crime of public mischief.

Karski said the OPP's Youth Leadership/School programs continue to be successful, as principals and vice-principals are very happy with having two officers being assigned to the high schools, as they work in conjunction with the education partnerships.

Caledon OPP charged the Town of Caledon $138.92 per person from January to December 2007, which was up almost $5 from 2006. The 2008 budget estimate for 2008 is $139.66 per person with a total budget of $8.240 million.

Karski said the cost is actually $116 per person once it has been reconciled, which means the provincial average is 151 officers per 100,000 people and Caledon is at 98 officers per 100,000, but its population is less than that, so the ratios are based on the average number.

"Caledon receives excellent policing by way of professional, dedicated police officers, and for $116 per year, I believe the Town gets a bang for its buck," he said.

Town Treasurer Sam Jones said the OPP capital program started a number of years ago and has continued to be supported as $150,000 goes toward major facilities maintenance, $100,000 toward in-car computers and $766,000 for facilities additions if needed.

Jones added that the OPP reserves and reserve funds includes $6.2 million for facilities, $1.5 million in the rate stabilization fund and $1 million for development charges.

"Through OPP services we've used this money where we needed to maintain an adequate level of services across the Town in regards to OPP services and when we have spikes in the overall costs, we prevent the spikes from conjugating a major increase across the board," sad Jones.

Recommendations being made to council were to approve the OPP budget submission, no enhancements to the contract are being sought and the contract ends Dec, 21, 2008.